Thread: Best Random Orbit Sander?

Late last year I bought the Bosch GEX 125-150 AVE, mine came with both the 125mm and 150mm pads. I am very impressed with how efficient it is and low vibration.
The only complaint is I have to buy a special fitting to attach a standard vacuum hose

There's been quite a bit of discussion on ROS choices lately. Perhaps a search would yield some useful info?

Mirka CEROS; size of an air sander, convenience of electric. The Festool ETS is a nice sander, but this is a class above.

Do you find the DC converter to be a nuisance at all...Elan?

Are they sold here at all? (Website just shows US & Canukistan).

They look good in the vid.

5 inch or 6 inch (1 of each?).

Any idea what they cost?

Thanks for the suggestion - haven't heard of them before today.

I'm amazed they haven't come up with one like those cordless / battery robot vacuum cleaners - sands the board itself and then plugs itself back into the docking/charging station when it needs a energy recharge.

You could have a dedicated sanding bench - any board you leave on that bench, the robot sander does it for you, until its sanded as slippery as a butchers whatsit!.

I'll go do a search back on ROS and see what comes up!

Originally Posted by michaellxv

Late last year I bought the Bosch GEX 125-150 AVE, mine came with both the 125mm and 150mm pads. I am very impressed with how efficient it is and low vibration.

Originally Posted by Timless Timber

Do you find the DC converter to be a nuisance at all...Elan?

Are they sold here at all? (Website just shows US & Canukistan).

They look good in the vid.

5 inch or 6 inch (1 of each?).

Any idea what they cost?

Thanks for the suggestion - haven't heard of them before today.

I'm amazed they haven't come up with one like those cordless / battery robot vacuum cleaners - sands the board itself and then plugs itself back into the docking/charging station when it needs a energy recharge.

You could have a dedicated sanding bench - any board you leave on that bench, the robot sander does it for you, until its sanded as slippery as a butchers whatsit!.

I'll go do a search back on ROS and see what comes up!

In order:

The converter has a hanging wire, so I have it permanently hanging off the vac. The cord from it to the sander is plenty long enough (3.5m I think, could be 4m) to follow the vac hose.

They are sold here. I got mine from BC Coatings, they have a store in Welshpool for those out west Contact Us

They come in 6", 5" and 90mm (3.5"?)

Cost is $550 http://www.bccoatings.com.au/compone...=1032&Itemid=1 (their site doesn't say about GST, but if it's the same as when I bought it's plus GST) in a cardboard box. For comparison, the Festool ETS150 can be had for $515 inc GST. I say it's worth the extra $90 but I have it for work and use it daily, YMMV.

More info in this thread https://www.woodworkforums.com/f13/wh...isbane-180403/

Originally Posted by michaellxv

Late last year I bought the Bosch GEX 125 AVE, mine came with both the 125mm and 150mm pads. I am very impressed with how efficient it is and low vibration.
The only complaint is I have to buy a special fitting to attach a standard vacuum hose

I got this as well, and you may have just fixed my only complaint with it. Where did you get the fitting?

Other than that, this sander is all sorts of great. However I have no basis for comparison, as this is my first ROS

Originally Posted by Damienol

The Bosch gets my vote also, it's a great sander but if your rich you could get a Festool but I can't see how they justify the cost, it's not like Bosch or the others don't do any R&D or know how to make a good ROS. You wait, the Festool guys will come in now and argue how good they are to justify the cost.

sB

Bosch GEX 125-150 AVE Professional English - YouTube

The Bosch is looking a likely candidate at the moment.

Originally Posted by DonIncognito

I got this as well, and you may have just fixed my only complaint with it. Where did you get the fitting?

I didn't, I just saw that one was available.

Originally Posted by Superbunny

The Bosch gets my vote also, it's a great sander but if your rich you could get a Festool but I can't see how they justify the cost, it's not like Bosch or the others don't do any R&D or know how to make a good ROS. You wait, the Festool guys will come in now and argue how good they are to justify the cost.

sB

I like my ETS150/3, what you choose to buy is really of no interest to me.

Regards,

Rob

Well the ROS are next on my list, (Unless i come across a good 1/2 inch plunge router going cheap on gumtree first)...

Just picked up a lovely Makita Belt sander (9924DB) from a retired guy... $150 and it's basically had no use - still looks essentially new. He bought it for one small job - then never got round to using it for anything else...and finally decided to quit it.

So I am slowly getting there.

Router and router table.

ROS

Chisel Morticer.

Bandsaw.

Drum Sander

Girl Friday!

Don't want much, do I?

Guess I should never have sold up the factory.... it's murder replacing everything a decade later... on a shoe string budget.

I'll throw the Metabo sxe450 150mm in the ring as well.

We bought a house a few years ago which had blood stained carpets throughout... Gross huh! We ripped
up all the carpets and the jarrah floors had a load of blood on them as well.

It was either hire a floor sander or use the cash to buy a sander and try to sand 90sqm of Jarrah with it.

I bought the Metabo, filled out the extended warranty, turned the turbo (boost) switch on and sanded a whole house with 80 grit over 2 days leaning on it with my whole body weight.

Didn't miss a beat.

3 years later I'm still hammering it and it's great.

It can be surprisingly gentle as well with the oscillation diameter turned down.

Originally Posted by Timless Timber

Bosch GEX 125-150 AVE Professional English - YouTube

The Bosch is looking a likely candidate at the moment.

This router has an article on it in this months Australian Woodsmith